WARM

The deal

$23 at Plugin Boutique (down from $29). The deal is live now.

What it is

WARM is a saturation plugin from KERN Audio built around three distinct character modes - tape for warmth and grit, tube for rich even harmonics, and transformer for asymmetric drive. Instead of generic distortion, it uses 7th-order Chebyshev waveshaping with independent per-harmonic control, plus spectral-aware drive with pre-gain per band. A built-in envelope follower gives it program-dependent response, so the saturation reacts to the signal rather than applying a static curve.

Who it's for

Audio engineers and producers who want precise, controllable harmonic saturation for mixing and mastering rather than a one-size-fits-all distortion effect. It suits anyone who wants to dial in a specific tape, tube, or transformer character on individual tracks or a mix bus.

Key features

• Three selectable saturation modes - tape, tube, and transformer - each with its own harmonic behavior
• Per-harmonic control over the Chebyshev waveshaping lets you shape the saturation curve directly rather than relying on a fixed algorithm
• The plugin ships with 34 factory presets and just 4 main controls, keeping the interface simple despite the depth underneath
• It runs under 3% CPU, supports VST3/AU, and uses adaptive oversampling to keep the saturation clean at the sample level